From the release of No Tears Left To Cry earlier this year, we found Ariana Grande heading straight for her spot in the hall of musical icons. The journey was further eased by what is undoubtedly one of the best songs/videos of the year, God Is A Woman; an anthem for anyone who loves beautiful music and wants to tear down patriarchy. The journey was seemingly cemented with the release of her fourth studio album Sweetener.

The Sweetener album redefined how Ariana Grande was seen. It publicly marked her final transition from the cherubic child Broadway star and the klutzy adorable Nickelodeon comedienne into a woman aware of her power, talent and in touch with her sexuality. Sweetener was undoubtedly a commercial success as it was completely unaffected by the fourth album curse many singers seem to have.

2018 could easily have ended well for Ariana Grande with the release and success of Sweetener but as fate would have it, this was not the case. The lovable megastar’s breakup from her former fiancé, Pete Davidson attempted to steal the spotlight from her musical success. Calling off an engagement could easily be messy and we were unsure of what to expect but no one expected Ariana to go down the Beyoncé route and make lemonade with the lemons life gave. Well, she did by releasing what could possibly be the best breakup song of the decade – Thank U, Next.

From the repertoire of the general populace, we have great and iconic breakup songs – which many of us have had on replay for days on end at one point or the other in our lives. Like Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable, Adele’s Someone Like You, Roxette’s It Must Have Been Love and quite a number more. Thank U, Next is definitely different from any of these songs especially as we find Ariana being grateful to her exes and the lessons she has learnt from them.

The song Thank U, Next did what none of Ms Grande’s single releases has done yet – earn her her very first Billboard number one debut. It also gave her a seat at the highly coveted and elusive seat with the most iconic musicians of all times. Whilst the single Thank U, Next launched Ms Grande away from her status as a megastar and straight to icon status, the accompanying video solidifies her place there. It lets you all know that not only is Ariana an iconic pop star but she is also a talented actress and comedienne.

The video of Thank U, Next, is easily a mash-up of the most iconic scenes of legendary movies like Mean Girls, Bring It On, 13 Going On 30 and Legally Blonde. This was recreated with a star-studded cast including Ms Grande herself, Kris Jenner, Troye Sivan, Jennifer Coolidge and so many more. Thank U, Next is many things: a melting point of pop culture, a celebration of everything Ariana Grande is and has gone through and a cherubic bad b*tch anthem.

The Thank U, Next visual became the most watched video on YouTube and VEVO in the span of 24 hours. As at the time of publishing, it has racked up over 138 million views and 546,257 comments. Ariana definitely has millions of reasons to be f*cking grateful for her exes.

Watch the video of ‘Thank U, Next’ below…

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